Farnsworth Art Museum
An excellent small museum specializing in artists who lived and/or worked in Maine: Winslow Homer, John Marin, Fitz Henry Lane, Louise Nevelson, at 16 Museum Street, just off Main Street (US Route 1). The Farnsworth Homestead next door is a historic Greek Revival home with many original furnishings. More...

Wyeth Center
An adjunct of the Farnsworth Art Museum, this former church holds many works by the Wyeth family of painters: Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth and N. C. Wyeth. More...

Owl's Head Transportation Museum
Superb collection of historic vehicles, from big-wheel "boneshaker" bicycles and Old West stagecoaches through Gilded Age limousines and early minicars. Lots of old airplanes, many of which still fly—and are flown! The museum has its own runway. Come see. More...

Maine Lighthouse Museum
The rockbound coast of Maine is prime lighthouse territory, and the museum's exhibits tell you all about them. More...

Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse
The iconic lighthouse you see at the end of Rockland's mile-long breakwater jetty is accessible on foot, and in fine weather it's a wonderful walk.

Owls Head Lighthouse & State Park
You can visit that historic lighthouse you see as a dot on a promontory on the southern side of Rockland Harbor. It's in a pretty state park with a beach and picnic tables. More...

Puffin Project Visitor Center
Puffins, those lovable little birds that produce only one egg a year, were driven off many Maine islands by civilization, but the dedicated naturalists of the Puffin Project have lured them and other disappeared birds back. An inspiring story! See it at the Visitor Center, 311 Main St. More...

Ferries to the Islands
Want to spend a day on an island? Make the 75-minute voyage to Vinalhaven after breakfast, enjoy the island and lunch, and you can be back in Rockland for dinner. More...

That Big Factory
Rockland harbor is also the location of a huge FMC Biopolymer carageenan factory.

Irish moss (Chondrus crispus), the sort of seaweed from which carageenan can be extracted, is plentiful in the sea near Rockland. Carageenan, a long-chain polysacharide with a backbone of the sugar galactose, is used as a thickener in puddings, toothpaste, and as a laboratory culture medium for bacteria.

It looks yucky, but is surprisingly useful—and valuable. The factory works night and day.